superb mask - Punu - Gabon (No reserve price)

Masque Mukuyi - Punu / Tsangui - Gabon
The masks of Gabon are often named after the rites to which they participate (Bwiti, bwété, byéri, ngil, emboli, okuyi, mukuyi...)

They intervene in all vital circumstances for the community: rites of social character (mourning, funerals, illnesses), rites of purification or fertility (birth, adolescence, virginity), rites of reconciliation and justice (to restore the chief's authority, harmony within families, or to resolve generational conflicts), or finally rites of protection (which aim more specifically to attract the good graces of ancestors or spirits...)

The Mukuyi masks, commonly called the “white masks,” are coated with kaolin which in ancient times was mixed with powdered human bones. This white ritual makeup, still in use across equatorial Africa, is called Pfemba.

A sign of communication with the supernatural world, the white clay earth is used by both men and women, notably during Bwiti rites.

The nine frontal cheloid rhombuses represent the Punu founding myths, the central point representing the creator spirit.